SmallHD has just unveiled the latest addition to its lineup of portable, yet super bright on-camera monitors: the SmallHD 502 Bright sports 1000nits of brightness while maintaining a compact 5-inch design, making it a perfect match for outdoor gimbal work. There’s also a limited black edition of the 702 Bright monitor.
Almost three years after the introduction of the original 502 monitor (read all about it here), SmallHD has upgraded the familiar design with all-new internals. The resulting 502 Bright model sports full 1080p resolution and 1000nits of brightness.
SmallHD 502 Bright
If you couldn’t decide between the daylight-viewable screen of the SmallHD 702 bright and the compact form factor of the 502, this new model might be worth a closer look.
The new 502 Bright model combines the same compact 5″ design of the original 502 plus the 1000nits high-bright 1080p display of the 702. This combination makes it a perfect companion for outdoor gimbal shots.
Watch the video below for a full introduction:
The 502 Bright offers all the features of the former 502 model: FullHD resolution (441 ppi), full-sized SDI and HDMI inputs and pass-through outputs plus cross-conversion capabilites between any of these connections. Regarding software, the 502 bright comes with OS3 firmware (read our coverage on this version here). It features all the tools you need such as waveform, custamizable false color, focus peaking and real-time 3D Luts.
When comparing the 502 Bright with the 702 Bright on-camera monitor, you can see how compact the 502 Bright really is. It weighs just 9.4oz (268g) while the 702 Bright is 17oz (482g). Both models share the same ¼-20 mounting points (three on the 502 Bright, four on the 702 Bright), the machined aluminum chassis and a bonded glass-screen protector.
The 502 Bright is powered by either one or two LP-E6 style batteries and it draws 9 watts of power while in use. For comparison, the 702 model requires 11 watts. As an optional accessory you can get a D-Tap LP-E6 power adapter for powering the monitor from your camera’s battery.
502 Bright Bundle
As an introductory offer, SmallHD has put together a neat bundle for a special price. The 502 Bright bundle includes the monitor itself, a tilt arm for mounting and a D-Tap LP-E6 power adapter with the accompanying D-Tap cable.
502 Bright bundle
Additionally, a 48″ thin BNC cable, a bumper case, a cleaning cloth and a spare screen protector is included in the bundle. For convenience, everything is shipped in a medium-seized hard case that also fits the 702 model.
SmallHD 702 Bright – Limited Edition
There’s also a new limited black edition of the 702 Bright monitor available. If you prefer the black frame over the original silver one, this is your chance. Apart from the color, this limited edition is exactly the same monitor as the existing 702 Bright model.
702 bright limited black edition (left), 702 bright (right)
Since this is a limited edition, this model is only available while supplies last.
Pricing and Availability
Both the SmallHD 502 bright and the bundle are available for preorder now, with shipping expected to start in February 2018. The 502 Bright is $1299, the bundle has an early adopter price for now and is also only $1299 (regular price: $1599). The 702 Bright limited edition sells for $1499. Again, shipping is expected to start in February 2018.
Links: SmallHD |full specs
Do you use SmallHD monitors on your projects? What do you think? Share your experiences in the comments below!

The Vufine+ is a wearable device that sends a 720p image from your HDMI-equipped camera to your sunglasses. Sounds great, but how does it hold up in the field and, more importantly, does it really work? Let’s find out.
Image: Graham Sheldon, Model: Shewan Edward Howard – Sony a7s w/Sigma 85mm Cine T1.5
The Vufine+ Wearable Display is the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign, and there is much to like in the design. For one, the Vufine+ connects to a magnetic docking unit that is compatible with the supplied non-prescription glasses as well as all the different brands of glasses I have in my house. Simply snap the magnetic docking unit in place on the right side of your favorite pair of glasses and you are in business. For this review I used my trusty Sony a7s and connected a thin 3ft HDMI cable from the camera directly into the Vufine+. The image popped right up into the wearable display without any menu tinkering.
I expected the ergonomics of having to connect a cable to my glasses to be cumbersome, but I was surprised to find the connected cable wasn’t annoying at all, although I imagine a heavier or cheaper cable would not be the way to go with this setup. My movement didn’t feel inhibited and after shooting handheld for several minutes I even forgot I was tethered. While wireless is clearly the future for this technology, having to work wired is not an insurmountable barrier.
The 720p image displayed for my right eye provided enough resolution that I was able to easily judge focus with my left eye closed, and the display itself was large enough that I wasn’t distracted by the environment around the image. You’ll want to de-clutter your camera image as much as possible by removing elements like waveform and audio levels. Reading settings with the display was just not as easy as judging framing or focus for me.
Image: Graham Sheldon
Charging the display through a USB cable and your favorite USB dock is simple. For me, the power lasted almost exactly the advertised 90 minute runtime after a full charge. You can also charge the device through an external battery brick, but having both a power and an HDMI cable connected to the glasses at the same time was a bit cumbersome when I tried it.
I found needing to close my left eye to judge the image to be the biggest use hurdle for me – that part just doesn’t feel comfortable. Somehow, having to spend hours on set with my face buried into a comfy EVF chamois just feels better than shooting with the Vufine+ mounted on my glasses. That being said, I can’t help but feel this type of wearable technology is very much the future for DPs and Cam Ops.
Image: Graham Sheldon, Model: Shewan Edward Howard – Sony a7s w/Sigma 85mm Cine T1.5
It’s worth mentioning that the airspace industry is already deep into wearables, with eye-tracking technology being employed in fighter pilots’ helmets. Might eye tracking technology slowly make its way into the camera industry? Yes, please.
If you are looking for a wearable display option that boasts an impressive list of compatible cameras, then the Vufine+ might just be for you. I’m most excited about what the Vufine+ represents: a product category in its infancy that promises a bright future for filmmakers looking to get just a little bit closer to the image they’re shooting.
Do you think wearable tech is poised to change the camera industry for the better? Comment below!

SmallHD announced the 702 OLED, an upgrade to its popular 702 Bright field monitor, as well as a new 17″ reference grading monitor, the SmallHD 1703-P3 with 10-bit color processing.
The SmallHD 702 OLED
The upgraded SmallHD 702 OLED is a wide color-gamut field monitor with an OLED panel for color accuracy. According to the manufacturer, it is “slightly more sophisticated” than the top 0f the line smallHD 702 Bright. That said, this 7.7-inch panel seems to be limited to a resolution of 1280×800 pixels, just like its more affordable companions, the SmallHD 702 Lite and SmallHD 701 Lite, while the original SmallHD 702 Bright features a 1920×1080 panel.
OLED certainly is appealing due to its rich and accurate color display, but $1,599 for a field monitor might be a stretch for most of us and seems like an attribute reserved for specific color critical applications. In terms of specs, the SmallHD 702 Bright has a higher resolution, larger viewing angle and more than twice the brightness.
SmallHD 702 OLED Specs:
Panel Type: OLED
Size Diagonal: 7.7
Resolution: 1280×800
Aspect Ratio: 16:10 Native
Brightness: 300 nits (For comparison: the 702 Bright features 1000)
Colour Gamut: Wide Color Gamut
Colour Depth: 24 Bit (8bpc)
Viewing Angle: 160°+
Adjustable Backlight: Yes
Temperature Adaptive Colour: Yes
The SmallHD 1703-P3
This is SmallHD’s “first reference grade monitor”. Though the 1703 line already existed, the new SmallHD 1703-P3 features true 10-bit color processing and delivers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color space with a 1500:1 contrast ratio, 450 nits of brightness and a 179° viewing angle, which is a lot more contrast and brightness than the 700:1 , 300 nits of the original SmallHD 1703.
This monitor offers true reference grade cinema color, covering 100% of the DCI-P3 color space, which makes it the perfect monitor for DIT’s on-set and for mastering in post,” says SmallHD co-founder Wes Philips.
Apparently, the 1703-P3 monitor comes pre-calibrated for DCI-P3 mastering. There’s one HDMI and two SDI inputs, as well as one HDMI and two SDI outputs, but apparently there are no composite connections.
It seems to me like this monitor is directly competing monitors like the Flanders Scientific DM170, which has similar specs and price point at just under $4,000.
This is not a cheap monitor and is certainly targeted at professional colorists who will appreciate the many useful features and high quality it comes with. It is remarkable to see what this company has achieved, having only a few years ago sold their first DP1 field monitor which I still use own.
For more information on both monitors, go to SmallHD.com.

Recently, there’s been a boom in nanowire research and development. It seems as though everybody and their granny is looking into nanowire technology for the future of touch-screens—and it’s no wonder. Nanowires made of copper, silver, and even gold look set to bring us more cost-effective, longer-lasting displays for a multitude of devices in the coming years.
Clearly, the colossus that is the smartphone industry is the main driving force behind this nanowire revolution. When you’re paying hundreds of dollars for an object which goes absolutely everywhere with you, the last thing you want is for dropping it once to shatter your home screen and your hopes and dreams along with it.
With the current popularity of smartphones, tablets, plasma displays, and all things touchscreen, it is no wonder that the current go-to material—indium tin oxide or ITO—is disappearing, fast. Demand for touchscreens, of course, will remain ever present. However, the world’s ITO stockpiles cannot keep up, leading researchers and technology start-ups from across the world on the hunt for the perfect alternative: affordable, conductible nanowires.
Nanowires: What are they?
Before we can discuss nanowires, and how they may affect the camera industry in the coming years, it is probably a good idea to get to grips with what nanowires actually are. Fortunately, the definition for a nanowire is much simpler than the technology behind them: they are simply a wire with a diameter of no more than a few of nanometers—with one nanometer equaling to 0.000,000,001 of a meter!
The companies that seek to revolutionize the touchscreen industry are doing so by suspending these nanowires in inks and then spreading these inks to form a film—a film that is, for the most part, empty space; this allows the films to remain transparent while the nanowires themselves remain conductive—just what industries need to keep their touch screen technology flowing!
The Benefits of Nanowire Technology
The diminishing levels of ITO available coupled with the ever-growing demand for screens mean that the race is on to get the first mass-producible nanowire screen technology out of the research labs and into our electronic devices. Looks like it is time to find out what benefits we, the consumers, can reap from this surge in nanowire research and production.
Replacing Indium Tin Oxide
One of the major benefits that producing screens via nanowire will have is the reduced demand for Indium Tin Oxide—something that the world is currently running fairly low on. As stock depletes, the price for the material will obviously increase and this is obviously going to be felt in the pockets of consumers as manufacturers up their prices.
A More Efficient Manufacturing Process
Screens made from ITO are also problematic due to how they are created. It is a complex and inefficient process, whereby the Indium Tin Oxide is deposited onto glass inside vacuum chambers. Obviously, the issue here is that not all of the expensive ITO lands where it is needed—meaning that the vacuum chambers themselves must be cleaned after each stage so that the rare material that’s left on the interior of the chamber may be reused.
Of course, the simpler process behind rare metal nanowires has an awesome advantage for consumers; it means that nanowire screens will cost less!
Improved Efficiency
Nanowires offer better conductivity and lower sheet resistance than currently available techs—allowing for better optical quality while simultaneously reducing production costs, as we mentioned above. I find it fairly crazy that, before they’ve even properly hit the market, nanowires have already had an enormous impact on nanotube and graphene ITO alternatives. From the depths of research labs, nanowires have already destroyed the majority of the market for two competing technologies. Impressive.
Flexibility
While it may not be something on your immediate technological wish list, it is certainly an interesting development. By coating nanowires onto plastic sheets—as simple a saran wrap—companies have been able to develop flexible, functioning prototype screens. The video below has a few more details pertaining to the 18” roll-up OLED showcased by LG at CES 2016.
Lower Costs
I mentioned it earlier but it bears repeating. By utilizing minute amounts of pure, precious metals, researchers have been able to beat the performance offered by ITO at a fraction of the cost of the process involved in manufacturing items with Indium Tin Oxide. For consumers, that’s what I would call a win-win situation!
Should Filmmakers be Getting Excited about Nanowire Technology?
Personally, I think so. Even outside of filmmaking, we see an increasing number of screens as the technology available to us continues to advance into the realms of Science-Fiction. Whether camera displays begin to adopt nanowire technology in the near future or not, we’re probably all going to be experiencing the apparently improved performance that they can bring to the table in one way or another.
Some of the best and brightest minds in the world are researching and developing nanowires, including teams at Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and Duke. That usually means two things: the tech will arrive on the market sooner than we might expect, and the applications will likely be extremely useful—or at the very least, incredibly interesting!
We’ll have to wait and see if nanochemistry hits a roadblock with improving and producing nanowires and whether manufacturers take this new technology in their stride. However, with working proof-of-concept models already surfacing and the potential for lower costs, I’d wager that nanowires are going to be a big hit; even if we do have a while to go until these newer, tougher, or flexible screens are in our hands.

SmallHD has expanded its 700 series line with announcement of two new 7″ monitors. Taking the slimline, smartphone-like interface goodness from the original 702 and reducing the resolution and OLED brightness output, we are presented with the much more cost effective 701 Lite and 702 Lite monitors.
Just like the 500 series, we get SDI/HDMI and HDMI only flavours in the 702 Lite and 701 Lite respectively.
The original 702 monitor boasts itself as a daylight viewable monitor, sporting a 1920X1080 display at 1000 nits in brightness.
These features are where the Lite version differentiates. Both the 701 Lite and the 702 Lite feature a 1200X800 display at 450 nits of brightness.
For real world reference, the Atomos Shogun is 400 nits in brightness, and the Odyssey 7Q+ has a 1200 X 800 display, so the 701 Lite and 702 Lite are on a level playing field with these more or less, subbing the cheaper cost for the lack of recording abilities.
Speaking of cost, the 701 Lite and 702 Lite come in at $699 and $899 respectively, a hefty saving on the $1494 SmallHD 702.
Being an owner of the 502 monitor, I can say that the software in the 500/700 series from SmallHD is fantastic. Smartphone users will instantly become accustomed to the swipe functionality on the toggle joystick.
This is great for setting up a host of pages for your display; one clean, one with a LUT, one with overlays for example.
Looks like you get all the exposure and focus functions in the SmallHD 701 Lite and 702 Lite. Customisable peaking, focus assist, zebras, graphs etc..
LUTs can be loaded via SD card and sent downstream.
The dual battery type/slot is genius. Canon LP-E6 up top, Sony NPF down low.
One feature that has been lost with the 500/700 series is the lack of power from USB. The DP4 and DP7-Pro monitor could power the likes of the IDX CW-1 transmitter (or Radian example), making wireless link setups very compact. The current 500 and 700 series monitor all provide 5v at 0.5A, short of 0.7A-1A required for such wireless accessories. I would not expect to see a change in the Lite versions here, but it would be great if it were addressed across the line at some point (if not for the next generation).
SmallHD 701 Lite Specification
7″ 1200 x 800 IPS LCD Display
Brightness 450 cd/m2
Backlight LED
SDI in/out
HDMI in/out
Custom Exposure/Focus Aids
LUT support inc downstream send
Weight 10 oz / 283 g (no battery)
SmallHD 702 Lite Specification
7″ 1200 x 800 IPS LCD Display
Brightness 450 cd/m2
Backlight LED
HDMI in/out
Custom Exposure/Focus Aids
LUT support inc downstream send
Weight 10 oz / 283 g (no battery)

The new Aputure Full HD Monitors bring more affordable options to an already competitive market.
A quick look online for 7-inch external monitors will bring up a long list of offers of varying prices, features and resolutions, with most affordable options falling into the 800 x 480 category. Once you filter out your search to HD monitors only, you will find the list is populated mostly by products in the 4-digit price range.
Enter Aputure, the Chinese manufacturer that brought us the affordable Amaran range of LED light panels as well as the innovative DEC Wireless Remote Adapter. The new Aputure Full HD Monitors – a recent upgrade to their VS line – offer HD resolution at a very competitive price.
These new FineHD incarnations bring several improvements over the previous VS-1 and VS-2. In addition to the leap in resolution to HD, both models boast improved Fine IPS screens with better contrast and brightness. This is useful for challenging outdoor shooting environments. A battery level reminder, input selection and shortcut functions are other improvements at the operating system level.
These Aputure Full HD Monitors start with an RRP of under $200 with the VS-1 FineHD. But in terms of features, the improved resolution is pretty much it. This, of course, may be all you need as an alternative to the LCD screen on your camera.
But if you require any kind of assist functionality, then the VS-2 FineHD is worth looking at. At an RRP of $279 you get the same HD 7-inch screen, plus features such as histogram, focus peaking, zebras, false colour and audio level meters. You also get a battery to use with the included Sony NP-compatible plate.
Some features lacking in these models are support for LUTs, HDMI output and SDI support. But products offering these features at this resolution cost many times more, so it is easy to forgive the “basic” functionality at this price point. Even the VS-1 FineHD doesn’t seem so basic if you can output the assist functions you may have available in your camera to the larger display of the Aputure.
For shooters wanting to invest in their first field monitor who are happy to compromise some of the higher-end features, HD resolution just got a lot more affordable. Check out the monitors on their site – we will post links to B&H once the items become available for pre-order.
What do you think? Will you up your game this year with an external HD monitor?

SmallHD has announced a new 7″ LCD monitor. The 702 is the first of the 700 series line offering 1080p resolution and daylight viewable brightness.
The 702 looks very much like a larger version of the SmallHD 502; sleek design with joystick and single button on the front.
It has both HDMI and SDI in and out (expect cross conversion) and a very neat solution for offering both dual Canon LP-E6 and Sony NP-F batteries natively.
It looks like one of the main selling points of the 702 is the high brightness display. We’ve seen this feature in their DP7-PRO High Bright, SmallHD label the new 700 series monitor as daylight viewable.
The 702 offers 1000 NITs of brightness, if you’re not familiar with that measurement it is said to be 2-3x brighter than a traditional LCD. The DP7-PRO High Bright offers 1500 NITs, but the new anti-glare reflection coating is likely to compensate.
“The LCD panel features optically bonded glass with anti-reflective coating. This greatly reduces glare and helps the high resolution, color accurate display remain visible.”
Unsurprisingly like the 500 series monitors the SmallHD 702 will run on the Page Builder OS, expect the handy swipe between pages interface, customizable focus and exposure assists, 3D LUT support including custom & sending downstream.
Pricing starts at $1499.00 and if it’s further more like the 500 series we may see a cheaper HDMI only version too at a later stage.

A couple of months ago SmallHD announced the 502, a new super lightweight 1080p 5″ monitor. Today they’ve introduced a HDMI only version, the 501.
Check out our article on the 502 here, a compact and lightweight monitor, ideal for small mirrorless cameras and gimbal devices due to its 1lbs form factor.
The 501 promises nearly all features of the 502; 1080p screen, LUT support, vast exposure and focus aids, plus compatibility with the new Sidefinder accessory (turns the compact monitor into a high resolution viewfinder). The difference? The 501 is HDMI only.
The 502 packs a lot of punch in the peripheral department. SDI and HDMI in/out as well as cross converting either signal.
The 501 is simply HDMI in/out only. Making it more affordable than its SDI abled bigger brother.
This comes as no surprise, as SmallHD recently announced the discontinuation of the DP4, their previous entry level HDMI only monitor.
Here’s the specification list for the SmallHD 501:
Panel Type LCD
Size Diagonal 5
Resolution 1920 x 1080
Pixel Density (PPI) 441
Aspect Ratio 16:9 Native
Active Area 5.0 in
Brightness 400 cd/m2
Contrast 1500:1
Color Gamut 85% NTSC (100% Rec 709)
Color Depth 24 Bit (8bpc)
Viewing Angle Full 179 Degrees
Backlight Type LED
Adjustable Backlight Yes
Temperature Adaptive Color Yes
Dual LP-E6 battery slots
Pricing of the 501 is currently at $899, a $300 saving against the 502.